Abstain in United Kingdom

Abstain Meaning, as used in the UK Parliament

To abstain is to refuse to vote either for or against a motion. In the House of Commons and the House of Lords no official record is kept of those who choose to abstain when there is a division.

Abstinence

This well-chosen expression of SENIORS, to use J. S. MILL’S well known description, has been unfortunate in giving rise to much controversy. It was intended to refer to that element in profits which might be considered as the ” natural ” reward of the capitalist for abstaining from immediate consumption. It was thus closely connected with the effective desire of accumulation and the theory of a “minimum rate of profits.” It has also been much used in the establishment of economic harmonies in the style of Bastiat the view of showing that ” natural ” economic laws are in fundamental accord with “common – sense” morality.

As might have been expected from the ambiguity of the terms ” natural ” and “common-sense, and from the vagueness of the conception abstinence itself, this economic harmony has been severely criticised in the first place by the Socialists (e.g. LA88ALLE in Schulze-Delitsch, Karl Marx in Des Capital). It was easy to point out that the virtue of abstinence could in many eases be reduced merely to desire for money as such and to a positive reluctance to spend. This criticism does not, however, seem capable of general extension. More recently another line of criticism has been developed and attention has been drawn to the positive effort required to convert wealth into capital for use in production corresponding in the main to the management or superintendence required after the capital has been formed. [1]

Resources

Notes

1. Robert Harry Inglis, Sir, Dictionary of Political Economy, 1915

See Also

• Motions

Further Reading